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EMS and Evolution

AV1611VET

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Would someone please explain to me, from an evolutionary perspective, how a Rangifur tarandus can acquire the ability to emit electromagnetic radition in the 620-750 nm range from its rhinarium.
 

AV1611VET

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Your source for this is...
This phenomenon was observed and well-documented in 1939, and is one of the most well-know (if not the most well-know) zoological oddities on earth.
 
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hocuspocus

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It's quite simple.
Natural selection selects those animals that are more fit for their environment. The Rangifur tarandus you are referring to had a distinct advantage over other Rangifur tarandus in the population, as emitting the electromagnetic radiation allowed this Rangifur tarandus to lead the sleigh in much more efficient manner, and thus this organism was selected.
 
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Tomk80

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Would someone please explain to me, from an evolutionary perspective, how a Rangifur tarandus can acquire the ability to emit electromagnetic radition in the 620-750 nm range from its rhinarium.
Selective breeding by Santa Claus. Santa Claus foresaw the rise of airplane flight long ago and started selective breeding Rangifer tarandus who had the shiniest rhinarium, so he can now be spotted by pilots.
 
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ranmaonehalf

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Would someone please explain to me, from an evolutionary perspective, how a Rangifur tarandus can acquire the ability to emit electromagnetic radition in the 620-750 nm range from its rhinarium.
lol, mega props for a good joke. To those that dont know. Rudolf was a Rangifur tarandus who had a very shine rhinarium. Some even said it glowed in the electromagnetic radition range of 620-750.
 
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AV1611VET

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God did it?
I was gonna rep the first person that answered "God did it", but decided against it, as I didn't want them to think I was advocating Theistic Evolution.
 
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Cabal

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I was gonna rep the first person that answered "God did it", but decided against it, as I didn't want them to think I was advocating Theistic Evolution.

God did it, post-Flood, within the deer "kind"? ;)

(And for the record, I'm not advocating YEC myself :D )
 
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plindboe

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Would someone please explain to me, from an evolutionary perspective, how a Rangifur tarandus can acquire the ability to emit electromagnetic radition in the 620-750 nm range from its rhinarium.

As far as I'm aware there has only been a single observed case. Considering that such a complex phenonemon simply can't arise completely from scratch, from one generation to the next, we must be dealing with a form of atavism. This means that the EM-radiating rhinarium phenotype arose among relatively recent ancestor populations.

From an evolutionary viewpoint, what is needed, is for the trait to be of some selective benefit. Were the ancestors nocturnal animals, EM emittance from an anterior protuberance could have helped the animals finding their way in the darkness. Also, predatory pressures must be absent or negligible, as radiating individuals would be constantly targeted in a predator abundant environment. Of course, we could also be dealing with sexual evolution.

Obviously much research still needs to done to tell when and why the genes evolved. But with only one reported occurance, we don't have much to go on. We need to find other cases with the atavistic phenotype, so we can isolate the protein and find the gene responsible.

Peter :)
 
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Andreusz

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It was a random mutation. But then it got artificially selected by Santa, just as those Japanese crabs that appear to have human faces pictured on their shells were artificially selected by humans. Rudolf's radiating offspring will be favoured by artifical breeding over the offspring of other reindeer, and a new breed wil be developed. Eventually it could become a new species.
 
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